Power-transmission mechanism for cream separators and other machines



March' 30 1926.

J. .5. WEARN' POWER TRANSMISSION MECHANISM FOR CREAM sEPARAToRs AND OTHER MACHINES Filed Hay 9. 1&24

'Ill

l N VE N T OR: www .fr0/mr wma/v Patented Mar. vlill), 1926i. l

UNITED STATES .TAKES sTUAET WEKEN, E cEEIsTcHUEcE, NEW zEA'ilAND, AssIGNoE To y 1,578,785. PATENT joFFlcE.

AUTOMATIC DRIVE COMPANY, LIMITED, 0F CVHRIS'JI!GHURZIEI,Ik NEW ZEALAND, AN

INCOBPOATED COMPANY OF NEW ZEALAND rowEE-TnANsMIssIoN MECHANISM Eon-.CREAM vSETAEAToEs oTHEE MACHINES.

. Application mea :ray 9,1924. serial 1ra-711,958.

To all inkom t 'may coacem:

yBe it known that I, JAMES STUARTKWEAEN, a subject of the King of Great Britain, re-

. siding at' 66 Bishop Street, Christchurchf in the Dominion of New Zealand, have `invented new and useful Improvements in Power-Transmission Mechanism 'for Cream Separ'ators and Other Machines, of which the following'is a specification. p t

This inventiony relates to beltdriven sappliances for use vin trasm1tting-mgtive power to cream-separators and othengma-f 4chines at the correctl operating speed o f such `machines and refers .to that type ofI appliance shown 'n`Patent No. 1,526,650, granted .to me under date of February`l7, y192,5, which appliance comprises a beltactuated gearwheel intermeshing with-a gear-wheel connected with the load, the said belt-actuated l gear-wheel being so mounted as to permit it to perform, within limits of belt-tension,

I gear-wheel'. z

Ain;

an epicyclic movement around the other said Thus 'in the rotation of the 1first or beltdriven gear-wheel the latter will tend to make its Iepicyclic movement around the other said gear-wheel withV which it meshes, but such movement will be restrained by the belt when such has been tensioned and the continued rotation of the first wheel will then rotate the second wheel and so operate the machine. TheA degree of tension placed u'pon the belt will therefore depend upon the inertia to be oyercome in starting the driven machine from rest and in the continued running thereof sc that the belt will be proper- 4 ly tensioned to afford the necessary driving power under all circumstances. In some cases hwever, such for example as in the event of'a breakdown of the drlvenV machine, it is desirable that the appliance shall cease to transmit motion to the load when the latter exceeds a predetermined maximum. Again in the driving of creamseparators and other ,machines possessing 4considerable inertia, it isA desirable that such machines shall be permitted to over- 'run the drivin power and thus avoid undue strains an shocks to such machines in cases where the driving power. yfails o r ,becomes Suddenly reduced in speed.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an improved appliance of the nature indicatedwherein the power is transmitted fromthe'belt'to'the loadthrough the medium of aspecially designed friction-clutch capable .of being adjusted to slip and so in-` terrupt the transmission when occasion requlres, and wherein the belt will be operative upon the load in one direction only, thereby permitting the rdrivenhmachine''to over-run by its momentum the @tid transmission.V

I norder that 'the nature/of lthe invention n and its construction may be. clearl underto the shaft offthe machine to be drivenand to be keyed or otherwise drivably connected therewith, as by means .of a set-screw 3 vtapped through the boss of the gear-wheel and through the sleeve so as to engage the shaft within the latter.'

Intermeshing with the gear-wheel l' is a pinion 4 mounted upon'a spindle 5 `.which 1.--l is a perspective view of an aplatter is carried in' a frame 6 -rotatably mounted upon the sleeve 2 so as to be capa- Y ble of rotating or swinging'freely'thereon YThe said frame 6 preferably includes a suitable enclosing guard for the gear-wheel land pinion 4, as here shown.

- Mounted upon the spindle 5-are a pair of dies or cheeks 7" and 8 which .are spaced at an vinterval apart and are inter-connected :o as to rotate together by means of a sleeve 9. The said cheeks are mounted to berotatable independently of the Ipinion 4 but are provided with a ratchet pawl 410 adaptedto drivably engage such pinio-nin one direcv tion only.

` Mounted between the said cheeks 7 and 8 so as to be capable of rotating independently thereof is a pulley 11 to which driving power from a suitable external source is'applied by means of a belt 12. Frictional enga-gement between the said pulley and cheeks is pro- .vided by means of a series of frictional,ele-l i 15 provided with a feather 35 7 and 8.

ments or-buttons 13 of leather orwother re Vsilient friction-giving material.

In the preferred o m ofthe construction as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the cheek-8 is formed lwith an outwardly lprojecting axial boss 14 which7is slidably androtat-ably received within a bearing 15 provided inthe frame( 6.` The said boss 14 is made A hollow .lor farmed with'an' axial borefi'vithin .which is slida'bl but non-rotatably received the end of the s eeve 9 formed integral with or attached 'to the cheek 7. As" here shown for the purposeof preventing rotation between the boss 14 'and sleeve 9 the'lattcr is' 16 slidably received in a feather-way 17 in the boss.

.Y The "portion, of the spindle 5 to one side of the pinion 4 is received-andlsupported by(- the sleeve 9 whilefthe other end bfsuch spindle to the opposite side ouf the pinion 4 is carried bya centre-point 18 or other ap'- propriate form of bearing carried in the frame and adapted to bot-h support such spindle and maintain the latter against 'an axial thrust;

l Formed through the pulley 11v and each extending parallel with the axis ofthe latter are a series of holes o "bores 19 in the endsJ of which are slidably received the buttons 13, whileinterposed between each pair of such buttons inthe interior of the bore, is aS compression spring 20 tending to force such buttons outwards into frictional engagement with the opposed faces of the cheeks For the purpose of adjusting the ycompression of the springs 20 and so governing the said frictional engagement` there is tapped through the outer end of the bearing `15 an adjustment-screw 21 theA inner end of which engages the vboss 14, as by means of a ball 22 orother form of thrustfbearing,vwhile the outer end is formed with a hand-wheel 23 or other means adapted to be .grasped by the fingers for the purpose of turning the screw 21. j I

Suitable means are provided for retaining the screw 21 in place when the adjustment has been made and which means may con'- 0 venientlyconsist as here shown,;of a spring or detent 24 attached to the exterior of the bearing 15 and adapted to engage with any one of a series of notches 25 formed around the periphery of the hand-wheel 23.

Provision is made valso for Lpreventing movement of the cheek 7- towards the side -of the frame l6 at which the pinion 4 is situated. .As here shown this purpose is effected by securing the said pinion rigidly to the spindle 5 as by means of a pin 26 thus enabling the endo'f such pinion to serve as a shoulder against which the adjacent face` 'of the cheek is adapted to bear.

` The -arrangement is such't'hat by. slacken- 5 ing the adjustment screw 21 the cheek 8 will the belt 12 to the pulley. The screw 21 may be slackened suiiiciently to reduce the frictional engagement to such an' extent thatgthe pulley vill bepermitted to revolve idly without actuating any of the other parts. If the, screw is tightened however,

,to increase the frictional engagement to the necessary eitent, .the cheeks 7 and 8 will thereby be. lcaused to revolve and by the engagementof their pawl 1() will cause the pinion 4 to revolvealso..Y The pinion, upon -commencing Iits rotation, will, ,make a partial epicyclic-movcment around the gear-wheel 1 with which it meshes but, upon ythe belt becoming tightened, such epicyclicqnovement' willvcease and the continued rotation of the pinion will serve to'rotate the gearwheel in the ordinary manner,thus driving the ma.

chine. In response .to increases an creases in the load the pinion will make similar partial epicyclic movements in one direction or' the lother thereby adjusting the belt tension to suit requirements for the time being. j j i.

In the event ofI the load increasing to an extent beyond that predetermined by the operator inv adjusting the setting of tlie` screw 21, the pressure between the cheeks 7 and 8 and the buttons 13 will be. insuiiiL cient toenable the latter to maintain their engagement andv willy consequently \slip round-.in contact with the lfaces "of such cheeks without rotating the latter.

d de-r Owing to -the fact that the'adjustr'ne'nt-4 screw 21 is tapp'ed into the boss 14, it will be understood that such screw will be stationary with the fra-me thereby enabling its wheel or head 23 to be conveniently grasped and turned for the purpose of effecting the said adjustmentwhen the moving parts of the device are in motion.

In cases where the driven machine consists of a'cream-separator or other machine which when in operation attains considerable momentum, a sudden stoppage or slowing-down of the power transmitted by the belt will cause the gear-wheel :1 to rotate the pinion 4,' but the latter, being connected to the cheeks solely by means of the pawl 10, will rotate idlyjwithout restraint Jfrom such cheeks, thus avoiding the strain and shock that would -otherwise be thrown upon `construction in this case differs from that already described in that the buttons .13 and their compression springs are mounted in bores 26 formed in the cheeks 7 and- 8 so that such buttons will make their frictional engagement with the two lateral faces of the pulley. As here shown also the sleeve 9 is arranged to rigidly connect the said cheeks so as to cause them to rotate together and to maintain then permanently at a fixed distance apart, the compressional adjustment of the springs 20 being in this case effected by means of screws 27 tapped into the outerA face of the cheek 8 so as to engage the springs contained in the bores 26 of such cheek.

In this case the screw 21 will be eliminated and the bearing 15 will-be made to4 simply receive the end ofl the spindle 5.

In operation this modification willbe generally similar to that already described but the construction possesses the disadvantagethat the'adjustment of the screws 27 can only be effected when the cheeks are at rest.

If so desired however, the construction shown in Fig. 3 may be modified by constructing the frame identically with that of Figs. land 2 and providing the cheek 8 with a boss as 14 adapted to slidably but non-rotatably receive the sleeve 9 arranged as in the form shown in Fig. '2.

In this case the manipulation involved in effecting the adjustment of the frictional pressure will be ,effected by means of the adjustment-screw 21 in the manner already explained.

I claim:-

1. A power transmitting clutch, comprising, in combination, a driven member, a pair of rotatable clutch members spaced apart and slidable toward and from each other, means between said clutch members and said driven member for rotating the latter with theclutch members only in one direction, a driving pulley mounted for rotation between said clutch members, a plurality of flexible members carried by said pulley in frictional engagement with the i clutch members thereby to cause the latter to rotate with the pulley, and means for regulating the distance between said clutch members .thereby to adjust the tension of said flexible members.

, 2. A power transmitting clutch, comprlsing, 1n combination, a-spmdle mounted for rotation, a driven member secured to said spindle, a pair of clutch members mounted for rotation on said spindle in spaced relation to each other and one slidable toward the other, a pulley mounted for rot-ation on said spindle lbetween said clutch members, flexible means carried by said pulley for frictionally engaging said clutch members, means for adjusting the tension of said flexible means, and cooperating means carried' by said clutch members and driven vmember for rotating the latter with the clutch members only in one direction.

3. A power transmitting clutch, comprising, in combination, a spindle mounted for rotation, a driven member secured to said spindle adjacent to one end thereof, a clutch disk mounted for rotation on said :spindle in abutting relation to said driven member, said disk having an elongated sleeve enclosiner the end of the spindle opposite from said driven member, a second disk having a tubular elongated boss mounted on said sleeve for slidable movement toward and from said first disk, a driving pulley mounted for rotation on said sleeve between said clutch disks,l a plurality of flexible members carried by said pulley in frictional engagement with the clutch disks, means for regulating the distance between the disks thereby to adjust the tension of said flexible members, and cooperating means carried by said first clutch disk and said driven member for rotating the latter with said clutch disk only in one direction.

' 4. A power transmitting clutch, comprising, in combination, a spindle mounted for rotation, a driven member secured to said spindle adjacent to one end thereof, a clutch diskmounted for rotation on said yspindle in abutting relation to said driven member, said disk having an elongated sleeve enclosing the end of the spindle opposite from said driven member, a second disk-having a tubular elongated'bossmounted on said sleeve for slidable movement toward and from said first disk, a driving pulley mounti yed for rotation on said sleeve between said 

